Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
While wandering the Internet one day, I came upon the plans for the scopetrex, so I went ahead and built one! The vectrex was a vector-based game console from the 1980s. Whereas most home video game systems of the time used raster display, usually on your television, the vectrex came with its own internal screen and drew monochrome vector graphics. Vector graphics are drawn by continuous positioning of the electron beam to draw out simple shapes. You get pure figures that lack the pixelation often seen in early raster games. Anyhow, I followed the plans, I built the scopetrex, and I tried to get the display properly aligned, with some limited success, though it's still far from perfect. In this video, I play a few popular vectrex titles including "Scramble", "Mine Storm", "Star Trek", and "Pole Position". For more electronics projects, see smbaker.com
While wandering the Internet one day, I came upon the plans for the scopetrex, so I went ahead and built one! The vectrex was a vector-based game console from the 1980s. Whereas most home video game systems of the time used raster display, usually on your television, the vectrex came with its own internal screen and drew monochrome vector graphics. Vector graphics are drawn by continuous positioning of the electron beam to draw out simple shapes. You get pure figures that lack the pixelation often seen in early raster games. Anyhow, I followed the plans, I built the scopetrex, and I tried to get the display properly aligned, with some limited success, though it's still far from perfect. In this video, I play a few popular vectrex titles including "Scramble", "Mine Storm", "Star Trek", and "Pole Position". For more electronics projects, see smbaker.com
